Monday, July 19, 2010

Ruby Gold tends bar-- we mean counter at An Okay Place To Eat. In her glory days, she was the hot young beer maiden for Saint Moon's All-American Beer. She toured around the country, promoting Saint Moon, until she got crow's feet and her boobs started to droop. And the rest...well, see for yourself.

After the break: interviews with Julie Amato, the voice of Ruby, and Vicky Lelgant, who brought her to life!

1) What was your initial reaction to Ruby Gold?
When I first read her dialogue, I thought..."Oh, yes.....a COUGAR! I love her."

2) What kind of voice did you choose for Ruby and why?
I used the lower/bass range of my voice, as my experience has been that the "ladies" who have spent much time as bartenders tend to drink themselves, and the older they get, the deeper their voices seem to be. And SEXY, as well!

3) Is there anything from your life that your brought into the character of Ruby Gold?
The "flirtiness" that a woman in her [type of] job is used to demonstrating....if you're a social creature, you tend to flirt a bit...it's natural, and very much with her.

4) How old do you think Ruby will be when God or the Devil calls to her? And, which one do you think will call to her?
I think the Devil may call to her first, and it won't be long!....tee hee....if the right man appears, whether he's married or not! I think she plans to be around for a long time, and will make sure of it...

5) I heard An Okay Place to Eat is your favorite show you've ever worked on. Why is it so awesome?
Everyone involved is very talented, friendly, and ready to give it their ALL to make it happen....even the engineers, who are wonderful. Not to even mention the CARE and resourcefulness shown by Scout
Raskin....very inspiring.

INTERVIEW: Vicky Lelgant, Ruby's animator:

1) So um, yeah. You had a pretty gross scene to animate for Ruby...
I actually got pretty excited about it. A lot of my own work includes cute animals and fairy tales, so breaking away from that was pretty awesome. You know it’s good when you’re giggling as you work.

2) Were there any events in your personal life that helped you bring it to life?
I mainly thought about those times when you’re at a bar and some creepy drunk guy tries to pick you up. Except in this case the roles were reversed from what I’m used to. I also tried to think back to my own experience with alcohol to get Ruby’s movements and mannerisms, but I’m not going into detail about that. :) As for the particularly gross bit at the end of that scene, let’s just say, I think it was given to a girl for a reason.

3) What was your initial reaction to Ruby Gold?
I think I felt a little sorry for her at first, but in that way that you feel bad, but laugh anyway. Ruby definitely has a way of growing on you. The more I worked on her, the more I felt like, yes, she’s a mess, but she’s not about to apologize for having fun and I respect that.

4) If you were stranded on a desert island with the employees from An Okay Place to Eat, and you could one save one person, who would it be and why?
I think I would have to save the Colonel. He’s not the most fun choice, but he owes Jesus money so you know eventually Jesus will have to show up to get it. That’s when we ask him to get us off the island. We’re saved!

5) How is it working remotely with Jon Henshaw, the lead animator, and Andrew Racho, the director?
It’s pretty nice because I’m in charge of my own schedule. You don’t really feel like you’re working when you’re working from home. It’s very freeing. The drawback is having to communicate something about acting or movement over email or phone, rather than just acting it out right there.

6) Who was your favorite food or beverage mascot as a child?
I think I liked the Trix Rabbit and Cocoa Puffs Bird. Mostly because I really felt bad for them. That rabbit tries so hard, and they just tease him. That poor bird is clearly an addict! Why won’t somebody help him?!

7) I heard An Okay Place to Eat is your favorite show you've ever worked on. Why is it so awesome?
Haha, lots of reasons. It’s stress free and I get a lot of freedom with the animation. The characters are hilarious! If you look at the mascots you grew up with, you just know that if they were real people, there’s no way they’d be right in the head.

It’s also really nice when I get a chance to work on something I actually believe in. It doesn’t happen with every job, but I really think An Okay Place to Eat has a lot of potential, so I have an added bit of excitement to see where it goes from here.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Hey guys!

Scout here. We were very fortunate to get R. Lee Ermey to play "Sergeant Cereal" in An Okay Place To Eat.

As a low budget production, we weren't sure if we could get name talent. For R. Lee, his foray into the world of animation was largely through the Toy Story franchise, which as you know, is very...well...G-rated. Okay Place is definitely not. Long story short, R. Lee loved the script and came aboard. We recorded him back in January.

Dannemiller: Yeah, it was a real treat. We wrote a character named Sergeant Cereal, a mascot for an Army-based cereal. He's in-your-face and always yelling. We wrote it with R. Lee's voice in mind, never expecting to get him to do it. Scout talked to his agent, sent him the script and to our surprise, he loved it. He came to the records and said, "you guys have some balls to write this."

What was it like working with him?

Dannemiller: Awesome like a hot-wheels commercial!

Racho: I was nervous to direct him at first. I mean, he's worked with Kubrick and Pixar. During the records, I had actors ad-lib a lot to help them get into character faster and R. Lee had fun with that. In his big scene with the health inspector, most of his takes are ad-libbed riffs of the original script. It was so much fun and we're lucky to have him on board.

Getting to work with R. Lee was one of the best days of my life, hands down. He's an all around great guy! Personable, talented, and warm. Can't wait to work with him again!

We also want to congratulate him on Toy Story 3. So far it's made over $300 Million worldwide! Also, he's in a new Geico commercial, so check it out: